The National Summit on Participatory Governance Towards Sustainable Fisheries dubbed as “Isang Bangka” sponsored and hosted by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources was successfully held at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City on October 28.

A Tri-Media Conference of chosen newsmen and Public Information Officers of BFAR from each region was held a day before the summit at City Gardens Suites in Ermita, Manila.

The summit discussed issues on how to combat and fight the destruction of fishing grounds in the country and preservation and protection of the environment. The participants also viewed a video on sea environment and were lectured on R.A 10654 otherwise known as the amended Fisheries Code authored by Sen. Cynthia Villar who also initiated a bill to increase the budget of BFAR from P3.3 billion to P 6.3 billion.

The summit was attended by all stakeholders in the fishing business sector per region, local government units, religious sector, academe, civil societies, tri-media nationwide and others.

Undersecretary Asis G. Perez told newsmen that the jurisdiction of BFAR is huge. “ We are a maritime country. We ask the the tri-media nationwide to educate the people in the country to preserve and protect our environment. We need you to lecture our people to stop illegal and dynamite fishing that destroys our sea environment. We need to protect our environment for our future generations,” Perez said.